The OpenServo Project is an open community project with the goal of creating a low-cost servo for robotics. Check out their step by step instructions, which include using the familiar Atmega168 in the servo controller board.

I drive a 1998 Jeep Wrangler and recently it was stolen. As it turns out, a Wangler is embarrassingly easy to steal. The thief used a screwdriver to forced the door lock and break out the ignition; without an ignition you can start the car with your finger.

Seeing how easy is was for someone to steal my car annoyed me quite a bit, so I looked into the best ways to protect your vehicle. In addition to an ignition (which on a Wrangler should be modified to make it harder to remove), it seems that a brake/steering wheel lock and a engine “kill switch” with a good hood lock seems to do the job; at least, it should provide enough motivation to move on to the next Jeep Wrangler that’s parked 100 feet away.

Building a Open Source / Open Hardware wireless kill switch for your car –[Link]

I have always been fascinated by photographs about lightnings. While it is relatively easily to put a lightning strike in any photograph using image editing techniques I still prefer the real thing. Since photography is a hobby of mine, I wanted to be able to photograph lightnings. However, when I tried to do it without any specialized equipment, I didn’t have much success.

I have designed many small footprint PIC projects (such as, pocket watches and wristwatches) but I cannot make them really portable. To make them portable, I need small power sources. Of course, Coin Cell battery would be the smallest DC source that I can buy. The problem is that a Lithium button cell provides 3 V. which is not enough to drive my projects. I thought about using DC-DC step-up converter to boost 3 V. to 5 V. However, it’s a little bit complex to add DC-DC converter to the projects. Moreover, my projects consume a lot of power as they consist of many LEDs, a button battery will not last for a day. So, I stopped my think at that point.

This instructable shows you how to add a time lapse module to a Rollei Compactline 52 digital camera. The idea could also be implemented for other point and shoot cameras. The device is able to power on the camera, take a photo and then shut the camera down. In this way the battery will last plenty of time. It is based on ATtiny24 and length of time between shots can be configured. It also has the feature to automatically shut down when it gets too dark outside. Check schematic and board files on the link below.